If you think the Melbourne paddock for the opening round of the 2015 Formula 1 World Championship was the first time Hamilton, Verstappen and Magnussen raced together, you are wrong. In January 1996, on the occasion of theAutosport Internationalthose three names were on the entry list.
Kevin Magnussen was just three years old at the time and Max Verstappen was not yet born, while 11-year-old Lewis Hamilton found himself up against Jos Verstappen and Jan Magnussen. The event was a pro-media karting race. You may think it was an event that most of the protagonists took lightly, but give a professional driver a go-kart and a helmet and everything takes on a different perspective.
First of all it is necessary to explain the rules of the pro-media kart race. Three staff members from each publication and one professional pilot were admitted. Autosport had its team with Jonny Kane as a professional driver, while a warhead that was about to be launched, F1 Racing (now GP Racing) at the time had no staff.
As we have seen so much in the battle between Mercedes and Red Bull, the team manager (myself) has found a loophole to exploit. The professional F1 Racing driver was Dario Franchitti, while the two staff members were F1 Racing ‘columnists’ Allan McNish and Jos Verstappen.
It’s amazing to think about it now, but Verstappen, who was about to be confirmed at Footwork for 1996, flew to Birmingham that morning simply to play that karting race. When he landed he was met at the airport and slipped his red overalls into the back of the taxi. There were no stage appearances or interviews on the show, just indoor kart racing. Soon after, he returned home and took another flight.
Meanwhile, the little-known Vauxhall Sport News also had an ace up its sleeve: Lewis Hamilton. The one who would later become seven-time world champion at the time was making sparks in junior karting and was paired with Niki Cleland, the son of reigning British Touring Car champion John.
The Autosport team, after hearing the names of the “columnists” present in the F1 Racing team the night before the race, threw out two staff members to sign Jan Magnussen and Jason Watt. With Kane, that too was a terrific team. Other pros included Ralph Firman Jr and touring pilots Ian Flux and the late Will Hoy.
Somehow the stars and the pros were beaten to pole by a journalist: Jonathan Noble who at the time was racing for the Daily Telegraph paired with Oliver Gavin.
Verstappen ran the first stint, quickly getting rid of Noble, and had a great run with Birmingham Post’s BTCC ace Kelvin Burt. After 15 minutes and the first driver change, Jos handed the kart to McNish whose stint coincided with Hamilton’s. The pair was bumper to bumper throughout the ride. It was a great battle and they were both experienced kart drivers.
On the next handover, the Scotsman said these words: “Christ, that boy is fast. One day he will be a world champion.” He wise words.
“I remember the brawl well,” says McNish. “I remember how Lewis instinctively knew how to position the kart. He was 11, so he had been racing for a couple of years. He was quite small, he was certainly fast, but the way he was able to position the kart gave him an advantage. and it was something that distinguished him “.
In a very clever way the Birmingham Post team realized that their only chance to win was to leave Burt in the kart. So while other teams changed drivers after 15 minutes, the team went round and round without stopping or changing drivers and built a nice lead.
When he finally stopped in the pits, Team Autosport took the lead, but for a short while. Much to Magnussen’s chagrin, the Autosport staff were simply not fast enough, and the Dane did everything to close the gap, but by now the F1 Racing Team had an advantage they couldn’t lose.
An indelible memory of that day is the camaraderie and Gavin summed it up nicely: “Look at the picture, then think about what we did next and how our careers have evolved. It was a fun day, and it’s fun to think about how it was. our careers have crossed since then. “
Despite all this that day there was an eleven year old who then wrote pages of history 25 years later and found himself once again fighting against the surname Verstappen. McNish states: “I remember Lewis’s father Anthony was there to support him and I remember talking to him after the race. He was one of the protagonists. If you look at that picture, no one knew who he was then. Now we all know.”
While that was just a fun event on a Thursday afternoon in 1996, it was one of the first times Hamilton had raced against present and future F1 drivers, and it left its mark on many, including Verstappen.
The Dutchman won that day, but before the awards ceremony he had to run to the airport to catch his return flight, changing back into the taxi. McNish remembers his victory with a smile.
“This is the kind of thing I love,” he says. “Read the rules and make the most of them … Those kart races were really good, actually. And actually that is the first day I became a journalist!”.
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